FOR 153 years, St. Joseph’s Academy in Brentwood, N.Y. was a Catholic prep school. As noted at The Remnant, St. Joseph’s, which closed in 2009, has just reopened as a Muslim school. Its new purpose involves “inculcating the work view [sic] of Islam and its mission.” That should be a-okay for most modern Catholics. In 1999, Pope John Paul II kissed a copy of the Koran — and there was little objection. After all, a religion is a religion.

Imagine, however, the same thing reversed — an illustrious Muslim academy converted into a Catholic school. Muslims do not kiss the Bible. They do not believe all religions are basically one — and, in that, they are right.

— Comments —

Daniel S. writes:

I certainly do not blame the Muslims here, they are simply filling the void left by the Catholic Church and other Christian denominations who have, for the most part, long surrendered to liberalism and decline. The Muslims, unlike the liberal priests and bishops which dominate the American Catholic hierarchy, actually believe in the truth of their religion and are willing to protect and defend their ancient creed (by any means “necessary”). The Catholic establishment is in the reverse position, as few any longer believe in the historic faith of the Catholic Church, instead viewing Christ not as the Son of God, the logos made flesh, but rather as some sort of first century community organizer and see the role of the Church not as saving the souls of men, but pushing “social justice” (i.e. the liberal welfare state) and amnesty of illegal aliens. The Muslims have a strong sense of the Transcendent (albeit in a corrupted, distorted form), while the Catholics establishment cannot escape its historic beliefs fast enough.

Buck writes:

America will not be restored without a substantial restoration of a pre-modern-liberal Christianity. Something above government must compel people into a shared context. Otherwise it is government’s force. Or, it’s a totalitarian ideology and religion like Islam. Daniel S. has said something by accident, a matter of syntax I assume: “The Muslims,…actually believe in the truth of their religion…” Daniel did not capture “truth” in scare quotes. Perhaps it is only the true believer who ever acts decisively, while the secular and culturally religious wither, divide and prevaricate. The Catholic church, “the” Church, is in deep trouble with it’s buffet approach to service. It’s scary the difference between Christians and Muslims, or rather the differences within Christianity and the timeless immutable core of Islam. Looking in at both religions from the outside, the “truth” does seem to reside most securely in only one of them